The Cortisol and PTSD Weapon

"After a single traumatic event, as many as one-fourth of people exposed will develop post-traumatic stress disorder, a psychiatric disorder characterized by anxiety, hyperarousal and persistent unwanted memories."

Can schoolyard bullying lead to PTSD?http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/expert.q.a/03/31/bullying.ptsd.raison "So, yes, one can develop PTSD (or post-traumatic stress disorder) symptoms around all sorts of traumatic events, not just the classic ones like warfare or rape. For example, many people develop PTSD after motor vehicle accidents or after a stay in a hospital intensive care unit. There are even a couple of studies showing that bullying does indeed increase the risk of PTSD -- and that women are twice as likely to develop symptoms as are men subjected to the same traumas. Thus, anything that really shakes a person up, scares her half to death or makes her feel completely vulnerable and out of control can produce PTSD symptoms."

Could I have PTSD from being bullied? http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/24/could-i-have-ptsd-from-being-bullied "I have been harassed for many years at work due to the fact I am considered a disabled person. I can't do some jobs because I don't have the strength or endurance. People taunted me, saying stuff like saying I was a hypochondriac. They made me do work I couldn't physically do, and I'm harassed almost on a daily basis. During this time, I developed major depression, and last year I needed time off from work because of it. I feel I have some signs of PTSD because I can't work in certain areas of the plant I work in. -- I started cutting two years ago to deal with the stress and getting suicidal thoughts, which I still deal with at this time. I am getting counseling, and I am taking medication for my depression and my ADHD. I think of the teenagers who have killed themselves because of bullying, and I understand how they felt. That is how I feel. I now work more in an area where people treat me better, but I can't forget the fact that some of my co-workers drove me to have suicidal thoughts and cutting. I have been with this company for 26 years. I was told to forget about it since they are treating me better, but I just can't get past the hell they put me through day in and day out. Could I have PTSD or complex PTSD?"

PTSD: Know the symptoms and when to get help http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/24/health/raison-shootings-ptsd People with PTSD are afflicted with three primary types of symptoms. -- The first type of symptoms involves all manner of intrusive memories of the event that often come with startling clarity via flashbacks and nightmares. Along with anything else that reminds a person of the trauma, these intrusive memories produce profound psychological distress and physical symptoms, such as a pounding heart. -- The second type of symptoms revolves around avoidance and emotional numbing. -- Bedeviled as they are by unwanted memories, images, nightmares and flashbacks that keep the terrifying reality of their experience emotionally alive for them, people with PTSD often go to heroic lengths to avoid anything in the personal or physical environment that reminds them of the trauma. -- They often also report feeling emotionally deadened, unable to love and disinterested in things others find pleasurable. Often they feel like they will die young or have less of a future than other people. -- The third and final symptom domain of PTSD is known as hyperarousal. Hyperarousal symptoms include difficulty falling or staying asleep, irritability or outbursts of anger, difficulty concentrating, being hypervigilant and finally, demonstrating an exaggerated startle response. -- These PTSD symptoms usually don't travel alone, unfortunately, but are frequently accompanied by depression and difficulties with drugs and alcohol.

Operation: Warrior Wellness. It's a project that brings transcendental meditation to the veterans who are experiencing post-traumatic stress. -- "I've been teaching transcendental meditation for 40 years, and I've been teaching it 20, 30 years ago to Vietnam vets and even World War II vets, but it's just been in the past years where the understanding that post-traumatic stress disorder is a real epidemic that has no conventional, traditional solution," Roth says. -- "It's profoundly effective for giving deep rest, healing the brain, and reducing stress. So, we got approached by a lot of military people and veterans organizations saying, hey, can you offer TM to the vets," he adds.

More women in combat means more mothers with PTSD http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/13/health/iraq-female-veterans-ptsd http://cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/12/13/pkg-philliips-ptsd-women-vets.cnn Staff Sgt. June Moss was diagnosed with PTSD after serving in the Iraq war -- As more women see combat, more female vets are suffering from PTSD -- One in five female veterans suffer from PTSD, according to the VA. -- Her new mantra: "Staying positive and keeping negativity out of my life!" The horrors of the war -- witnessing decapitated and burned bodies amid mass destruction -- led to post-traumatic stress disorder. -- "I do notice when I'm stressing out that I start having dreams about what I saw and how I felt," says Moss, now 40 and retired from the Army. "It does come back as if to haunt you."

PTSD in women may have genetic linkhttp://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/25/ptsd-in-women-may-have-genetic-link Scientists are looking for genes or gene pathways that can help better predict PTSD. A new study in the journal Nature suggests one such route in women: through a protein called pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide, which is known to regulate the cellular stress response. Women are more likely to have PTSD in general; 10% of women and 5% of men develop the condition sometime in their lives. -- Study results suggest that a particular gene variant for PACAP may be sensitive to both estrogen and stress, because it is associated with women who have PTSD. -- "It helps us to understand that PTSD is complex," said Dr. Kerry Ressler of Emory University School of Medicine, lead study author. "There are many individual ways that people come to PTSD, in the same way that there are probably 100 different ways to come down with heart failure."

War vets find solace in four-legged friends http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/09/us/cnnheroes-ptsd-service-dogs Wilson said his depression turned him into a hermit. He would "curl up and not talk to anybody," and his anxiety made it difficult to go into public. -- If he did leave the house, he was hypervigilant. If someone walked up behind him or dropped something that emitted a clatter, it triggered the "fight or flight" mechanism he'd groomed in the military. -- The anxiety was so bad that before he was diagnosed with PTSD, he went to the emergency room four times because he thought he was having a heart attack. He "self-medicated" so heavily with booze that it strained the relationship between him and his now-wife of two years. -- "I was having to drink to numb all my senses and be quasi-normal," he said. -- When veterans train "their own service dog, there are immediate benefits right off the bat," Cortani said. "They have a mission and a purpose again. It gives them something to focus on and to complete. It gives them a sense of security and safety. ... They know they're not alone. They've always got their buddy at the end of the leash." -- Now Wilson tells Lobo, "Watch my back," and his four-legged friend stands behind him and gives him a nudge if anyone approaches. When something stokes Wilson's anxiety, Lobo senses it, jumps up and puts his paws on Wilson's chest so he can redirect his focus. -- "Knowing he's there makes me comfortable," Wilson said. "I'm not worried about the attacks. I still think about them, but I'm not hampered by them. I can go to the movies."

Dogs help war vets find 'new normal' http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/08/us/cnnheroes-mary-cortani-interview Through her nonprofit, Operation Freedom Paws, Cortani helps veterans train their own service dogs in northern California. She often helps match veterans with dogs from shelters or rescue groups. http://cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2012/09/27/cnn-heroes-top-ten-cortani.cnn

'Dog tags' takes on new meaning in program for soldiers with PTSD http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/dog-tags-takes-on-new-meaning-in-program-for-soldiers-with-ptsd-1.1040190 Everyday routines, like going to the mall, have become an ordeal. The noise, the crowds, being exposed in the open with nowhere to hide, all trigger the responses he learned as a soldier. -- “I was outside the wire almost every day on missions,” he said. “And you have to watch your surroundings. You have to look for cues, anything that's suspicious.” -- “She provides that extra security and the comfort level,” he said. “She really helps calm me down.” -- “It’s been really relaxing having her with me,” he said. “I’ve lots to pay attention to. She’s my attention and I don’t have to concentrate on everybody else. My head’s not spinning around in circles like it usually does.” -- Before he got Farrah, Jesse rarely left his house. -- “I didn't want to be around anybody,” he said. “I was so depressed and so out of it that I just I didn't care about my life anymore.”

PTSD strikes one in eight heart attack patients http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/20/ptsd-strikes-one-in-eight-heart-attack-patients "But new study finds that one in eight patients develop PTSD after experiencing a heart attack or other major heart event. The study, published online in PLoS One, also reveals that heart patients who experience PTSD face double the risk for another heart event or dying within one to three years, compared to heart patients who do not experience PTSD."

PTSD linked to higher post-surgery death rate http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/20/ptsd.veterans.mortality Post-traumatic stress disorder may be a condition of the mind, but research has implicated it in the ills of the body. Now, a new study suggests it may be associated with death after surgery. -- The study shows that veterans with PTSD were more likely to die within a year after surgery than those without the disease, regardless of how many years had passed since their service. The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists this week. -- This is the first research to examine the mortality of patients with PTSD after surgery, said study author Dr. Marek Brzezinski, anesthesiologist and assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco. -- "If you consider that perhaps more and more patients are coming, and they're going to be with us for years to come, this is obviously a huge field that needs to be addressed," he said. -- People develop PTSD, an anxiety disorder, in response to a traumatic event. Symptoms, which include intrusive memories, social withdrawal and increased anxiety or emotional arousal, typically begin within three months of a traumatic event, according to the Mayo Clinic. -- The condition has also been correlated with increased risk for alcohol and drug abuse, smoking, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, elevated lipid levels and other psychiatric disorders, Brzezinski said.

Study: PTSD signals longer-term health problems http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/03/study-ptsd-signals-longer-term-health-problems "U. S. soldiers who experienced post-traumatic stress disorder during combat in Iraq were more likely to experience longer-term health problems including depression, headaches, tinnitis, irritability and memory problems compared with soldiers who experienced only concussions without PTSD. The study concludes that screening for PTSD among troops is critical for identifying and treating long-term health problems. The findings are published in the JAMA Archives of General Psychiatry."

The PTSD weapon can consist of high levels of stress and sleep deprivation over long periods of time, which exhausts the victim and affects the hormones, combined with constant threats, hostility, and provocation.

Environmental elements like sound distortions or beeps can be added to the fear conditioning or PTSD weapon.

The Cortisol Weapon

High levels of Cortisol can affect areas of the brain linked to fear.

High levels of Cortisol over long periods of time, Cushing's syndrome, not only suppresses the immune system and can lead to acid-base imbalance, muscle break down or muscle wasting, it can also affect the brain.

The emotion of fear or state of fear is more easily imprinted in the brain, fear conditioning and PTSD, when levels of Cortisol are higher. Soldiers have been the most common victims of these effects with the illness or condition of PTSD linked to high levels of stress, exhaustion, being under constant guard or threat, and periods of fear linked to combat.

The Cortisol, Adrenaline, and PTSD Weapons

High levels of stress can increase Cortisol levels and sleep deprivation can also increase Cortisol levels by as much as 50%. These inducers of Cortisol can be combined with threats in attempts to induce fear or the state of fear and can be used for fear conditioning or in attempts to induce PTSD.

Over a long period of time hormones can be lowered, the victim can begin to fear or avoid provocation and hostility due to the added physical damage linked to cortisol and adrenaline.

PTSD can be reinterpreted by the users of the PTSD weapon or participants as emasculation.

Environmental Factors

Sharp or piercing sounds like some beeping sounds and flashing lights can have more of an effect on a person with high levels of Cortisol or during periods of high Cortisol.

Psychological Harassment/Manipulation Fear Conditioning or PTSD

1) Harassment, Association, and Awareness: Sound distortions or beeping sounds can be used to psychologically harass a victim, which makes them aware, association, that sound distortions or beeping sounds are being used to harass them.

2) In Public Places: Sound distortions or beeping sounds can be used in public places for intentional harassment and remain invisible to those who have not been targeted or are unaware of its use for harassment linked to association.

3) Cortisol and Fear Imprinting: The combination of high levels of sleep deprivation and threats to bring up Cortisol levels and attempts to induce fear can condition environmental factors such as beeping sounds or sound distortions. The sound distortions and beeping sounds can be associated to a threat and fear, fear conditioning, through psychological manipulation and this can lead to PTSD.

Sound distortions can consist of sharp or exaggerated sounds in music or speech and beeping sounds.

Isolation

The victim's of mobbing in modern society and these types of criminal harassment provocation tactics or PTSD may seek to isolate themselves from these, and this can also mimic the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenics who isolate themselves from public environments.

"Mobbing in Modern Society: 'High levels of sleep deprivation through technology; Hostility and provocation by participants to increase the damage done to the body, and to make the victim 'yellow'.'"

Mobbing in modern society can consist of using high levels of stress and sleep deprivation to exhaust the victim combined with threats, provocation, hostility, fear-of-fear, and fear-of-humiliation to keep the victim under threat or on guard over a long period of time in attempts to induce PTSD.

Over a long period of time hormones can be lowered, the victim can begin to fear or avoid provocation and hostility due to the added physical damage linked to cortisol and adrenaline.

Environmental factors such as sound distortions or beeping and even words or trigger words can be added or used in the attempts to induce PTSD.

Mobbing in modern society can include advanced sound technology to sleep deprive a victim.

The victim is sleep deprived, exhausted, hormones lowered, and submitted to mobbing conditions, which increases the physical damage linked to cortisol and adrenaline, and weakens and exhausts a victim more quickly and easily over a long period of time in order to induce PTSD.

Mobbing in modern society can consist of using degrading themes, notably pedophilia, combined with social workers and psychiatrists who engage in mobbing or are used as a threat linked to coercion or false confessions, and the word profile.

The result is that some of the homeless may become fearful of social workers and psychiatrists when they are supposed to obtain help from these.

Mobbing which consists of using psychological abuse, fear, and humiliation can result in increased substance abuse by the victim as a coping mechanism, which can add another destructive element to the brain or brain damage.